Again, sorry for the long wait! College and all, but I am happy to be back now!

Whenever the heavy, metallic doors closed behind him, Rael felt as though he just entered another world, cut off from the noisy, wild universe out there. Bright walls, planters of different greenery providing a friendly decor. Yet despite the bright, friendly facade, one should not forget that this was still a high security prison, fortified enough to even retain nobles and werewolves. Fully exposed for the first time, lonelier than ever, a new solidarity had built up between them. Good. Even the most despicable of them might change.

Unfortunately, they did not allow any foods or drinks to be brought to this place, or else he would have come with some of that coffee. He'd learned to like the bitter taste. Maybe some pastries from the former werewolf lord. Well. She would live without it. Ignes sat back on the comfortable lounge chair in the lobby of the area that was accessible to visitors. Their means of control were more subtle than chains. It was nice not having bars between them, along with other security measures. She probably was equally glad to be out of the high security tract by now.

"Heya, Rael. Something tells me you're in a good mood. You're not stomping." Her hands were folded on her stomach.
"I don't stomp." He huffed and sat on the other chair, forearms resting on his knees. "Anyway... guess you know me too well. I am going out with Seira next week."
"Seira? The Loyard Clan Leader? So you are still after her... Forgetting about little old me?"
"Oh come on, Ignes. We all know you are the queen of all lesbians."

Ignes chuckled softly. What a long way they have come – maybe she did not harbour as much regret as she should, but still, some things she probably did regret. Some things she actually missed. Some things she had found again. Maybe a few centuries from now on, she would be able to truly forgive father for handing himself over to the law – and for luring her into this trap, for giving her into their hands. One day she would forgive him in full. Maybe she was never all that angry. Maybe one day they would no longer need to run. Maybe one day... one day... She was glad that Rael was still there. That pesky little boy he was, always glued to her heel. Her oldest, truest friend. Maybe her only friend.

"Anyway. More hot gossip I need to know of?"
"... Hm. Where do I start?" Rael pressed his index finger against his lower lip. "Regis might finally be about to find a girlfriend."
"Oh come on, don't talk about people I never met."
"Fine. Frankenstein and Urokai are still on their game of cat and mouse. Raskreia's campaign is slowly getting started... Hmmh. There's rumours. The Noblesse. Do you know who that is?"
Ignes blinked a couple of times. The Noblesse... A distant memory, reaching all the way back into her childhood. Raven hair, gently swaying in the evening breeze, along with white curtains. Painted gold and red by the sunset. Father only spoke of him with greatest respect. Oh how they admired him. Oh how they cherished him. Oh how they loved him.

"Yes. He died long ago." Not disappeared. She had learned the truth. She knew that he was dead, gone, his fate sealed by the hands of his very own friends.

It had eaten father from the inside.

In this moment, the people around them did not matter. The gigantesque Agora did not matter. All the stars of this galaxy and all the galaxies of the universe – of this and all others there might be – did not matter. They all faded into the vast nothingness he'd felt for the longest time. In this moment, the man before him was the focal point of this galaxy, not the vast field of black holes that sat at the heart of the Milky Way. No. It was him. In this moment, Frankenstein hated him for that.

"Raizel." Master burned on his tongue and his body wanted to kneel, remembered the pitiful pose too well. But Frankenstein did not kneel for anyone, called no one his master. No masters, no Gods above him, nothing but he open vastness of space. He would not let anyone change that.

Slowly, he approached. Did he want to hug him? Punch him? Turn around and never look back? All of them? Hug him, punch him, run? His steps came to an abrupt hand and, with a slight tremble, his arm rose, stretched out gently, as though he meant to run his fingertips across those pale cheeks just to make sure that he was truly there. There, alive.

Frankenstein stopped the motion mid-air, his hand hovered several inches away from Raizel's face and dropped to his side again.

"It's been a long time," he started dryly, almost overwhelmed by a moment of truest awkwardness. Out of all the things he could have said... or maybe he really should have said nothing at all, after all. There was nothing left to say. Whatever might have mattered once... that was in the past, ashes and cosmic dust like the rest of Earth.

"It has. I am sorry so much time passed."
His voice sounded soft, too soft, it made Frankenstein sick to the stomach. He wanted to be angry. Hasn't he been over it? Has he not learned to live again, as meaningless and empty as it has been? How dare he come here, invade his life once more by his mere existence? Frankenstein swallowed his anger. Now that he knew the truth... The fight with Muzaka... could he still be so full of rage? Raizel was at no fault and yet at the same time, he was.

"I have been looking for you," Raizel continued, picking up words because Frankenstein certainly would not.
"Have you? Hah. For a change." A bitter snort to match his sour expression. He did not want to hear it. Still... he could not bring himself to send him away, to tell him to leave. He could not. Instead, Frankenstein let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his forehead with the tips of his gloved fingers. "There's a coffeeshop nearby," he started. Not as good as Muzaka's, but that did not matter. "If you want to talk, we can do it there."

Raizel merely nodded in agreement.

"So, you knew this Raizel guy well?" Kei had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, not because he was feeling too hot, but because he liked the looks of it. No one cared about how they dressed here as long as the job got done.
Roctis gave half a shrug. "Did anyone really know him? I guess I knew him well enough." Carefully, he set down the Chelbon cub, hands covered in miniscule scratches and faint, shallow bite marks, though the small teeth hardly managed to puncture his skin at all. It healed right in front of his eyes. "He's so feisty, we should call him Urokai," he mumbled.
Though now they were only the size of a medium earth dog, soon enough they would start gaining weight at an alarming rate and grow into large, dangerous predators. That was alright. There was a reason why mostly nobles and werewolves worked at this part of Bekenstein, an entire planet for the preservation of endangered species.

"Hah. Good one." Kei snickered. Urokai was... quite a handful, yes. "I think it's time to release Ignes into the wild. The drake. Not -"
"I know what you mean." She'd asked him to name something after her. Something cool. So he chose one of the drakes. Honoring her namesake, she'd grown into a fierce creature, alpha lady of their flock – and exactly as aggressive as one would expect of alphas. Kei was right, though he hated to think about it.

"We will need to go out and catch her, then," he stated dryly. Adult drakes should not be kept together except when mating. And even though they hand-reared most of their creatures... in the end, instincts took over. That was the way of life. Live and let go.

"Urokai wanted to come visit with Ser Raizel. We can do that then."

Kei nodded in agreement. A few weeks would not matter all that much, he supposed. Maybe Urokai could meet little Urokai, who currently tried to gnaw through the bars of the enclosure.